Widower wears wife's gift after she texted him 20 minutes before D.C. crash

Hamaad Raza says his wife, 26-year-old healthcare consultant Asra Hussain, texted him about 20 minutes before American Airlines flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29, 2025. One year after the crash, Raza says he still wears a gift she gave him.

Raza told PEOPLE that Hussain texted him continuously during the flight from Wichita and that she was a nervous flyer. When he arrived at the airport to pick her up he saw flashing emergency lights and soon learned the flight had collided with the helicopter while on final approach.

The couple met as members of the Muslim Student Association at Indiana University, married in the summer of 2022 and moved to Washington, D.C., about six months before the crash. Hussain had earned a master’s degree in health administration from Columbia University, and Raza says she inspired him every day.

After her funeral Raza moved back to his parents’ home in St. Louis and filled the house with her mementos. He keeps flowers she bought him preserved in acrylic, saves her birthday cards and notes, and wears the Nike sneakers she gave him every day, saying he treasures the gifts. To cope, Raza and his father-in-law watch videos of Hussain on repeat, he rereads her texts from the airplane and listens to the Bollywood song Ishq Hai that she sent him.

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